falling fates [a rwby fanfic]

trailer ii

Rule number one: slow your breathing.

Rule number two: quiet your footsteps.

And rule number three: make sure your weapon is ready.

Nirvana crept slowly behind the monster, keeping in mind the three rules of a 'jump attack'. She would have to move quickly, or else the monster would sense her too soon and it'd be over. She wasn't particularly fond of that scenario.

Inch by inch, she moved herself closer to the hairy, coal-black spine of the Ursa. Nirvana grinned with satisfaction, totally aware that the mindless thing wasn't taking heed of her as she waited in the tall grass of the clearing. What an easy kill. She slowly raised her custom-made battle axe above her head, preparing to strike, and-

Abruptly the skinny arms of her little brother collided with her back and wrapped themselves around her neck, causing her remote to careen out of her hands and strike the wooden floor of the living room as Nirvana let out a surprised cry. The Ursa on the old TV screen spotted her as her remote moved her player unwillingly, and Nirvana couldn't reach it in time to stop the slaughter.

"Vana!" her six-year-old brother Nova cried. Nirvana grunted with annoyance and dragged him around so he was in front of her, his amber eyes locking with hers.

"What?" she interrogated, with a slight edge to her usually nonchalant voice. Her eyes gazed behind her brother to the TV screen, which revealed her dead avatar. She sighed in frustration.

"Mommy is scared," he replied solemnly, hanging out his bottom lip. Nirvana raised an eyebrow questioningly, wondering if he was in fact being serious. She hadn't recalled her mom ever being scared before- she was the bravest person she'd ever known. She was a huntress, after all. Huntresses don't get scared. In addition to that, her brother was seldom ever serious. It must just be Nova being dramatic with her yet again, trying to get her attention while she played her own.

Nirvana collected Nova and carried him out of the living room to the household's second bedroom in which the two shared. Despite Nirvana being a rather unsocial person, she had a deep love and longing of protection over her one and only sibling. She fantasized about being that one big sister that her brother could brag on about to his friends. However, in reality, her faunus heritage prevented her from ever accomplishing that, as Nova's friends never obtained a jealousy for a boy whose only sibling had two horns sticking out of her head. Despite all his friends ignoring her, he still loved her, though. She was glad he wasn't someone who would give in to that kind of peer pressure- dramatic though he was otherwise.

Turning on the lamp, she set her brother onto the bed and kneeled down before him calmly. Whatever she did would rub off on him, so it'd be the best if she presented herself as unconcerned as possible, even if there really was nothing wrong- which was probably the case.

"You stay right here, okay?" Nirvana commanded. "I'll go see what mom's worried about." She patted Nova's knee. "Go play with your toys or something."

"I'm not a baby, you know," he whined. He was still six, anyway. One could mistake him for someone younger, however- he hadn't quite grown that much yet.

"Do you want to go clean something instead?" she teased, although she was being half-serious.

"No..." Nova replied. He sighed and shook his head. He then ran his hand down his invisible beard. "Maybe I'll draw something instead..."

"You do whatever the hell you want, bud," Nirvana replied. She stood up and left him in their room while she walked down the hallway to the kitchen, passing pictures of herself and brother that hung along the wall, pictures taken together every year like it was some sort of tradition. Her mom loved them, she knew that, but eventually the pictures would get old. They would get old, and Nirvana didn't fancy taking a picture with her brother every year of her life in the same pose, in the same location.